Fluid-solid-thermal coupling analysis of rock failure under the joint action of cutting and jet impingement

Abstract Mechanical cutting assisted by high-pressure jet is a common and efficient drilling method in the exploration of hot dry rock (HDR). The drilling efficiency can be further improved with an in-depth understanding in the rock-breaking mechanism, which is a complex process involving the coupling of thermal stress, jet impact pressure and cutting force. To address such a multi-physics coupling issue, a loosely coupling method was adopted in this work to accomplish the exchange of data, including temperature, heat flux, nodes deformation and impinging pressure of jet in every time increment. In the fluid subdomain, the liquid nitrogen (LN2) jet and water jet were modeled and compared to demonstrate the potential of the novel jet in improving the drilling rate. In the solid subdomain, cutting force monitored in the experiment was loaded, and the concrete damage plastic model was employed to evaluate damage behaviors of the rock. Relative experiments were conducted to validate the reliability of simulation results. Results indicate that a great temperature difference develops on the coupling surface under the impingement of LN2 jet due to its cryogenic feature and lower heat transfer efficiency. Thereby, irreversible damage of the rock can be induced even at room temperature (298 K). As for the water jet, tensile damage is not observed until the rock temperature increases to 473 K. The assistance of jet impact on rock breaking is mainly reflected in two aspects: (1) the occurrence of tensile damage on the coupling surface facilitates the subsequent rock cutting; (2) the enhancement of tensile damage around the cutter promotes the initiation of cracks. Higher rock temperatures significantly improve the heat transfer rate and enhance the advantage of jet assistance. The present study can provide a new sight for the exploration of HDR.